Trump administration asks high court to halt climate change case

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he heads to the Marine One helicopter to depart the White House for travel to Florida in Washington, U.S. October 8, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday for a second time asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put the brakes on a lawsuit filed by young activists who have accused the U.S. government of ignoring the perils of climate change.

In the lawsuit, 21 activists, ages 11 to 22, said federal officials violated their rights to due process under the U.S. Constitution by failing to adequately address carbon pollution such as emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

The lawsuit was filed in 2015 against former President Barack Obama and government agencies in a federal court in Eugene, Oregon. Both the Obama and Trump administration have failed in efforts to have the lawsuit thrown out.

On July 30, the high court rejected an earlier application by the Trump administration, saying it was premature.

Eugene, Oregon-based federal judge Ann Aiken on Monday issued another ruling allowing the case to move forward to trial on Oct. 29 if either the high court or the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals do not intervene.